Point of no return

Day 7 - Accra

We'd been put in touch with a driver by the hotel who could take us around to see a few sights in Accra, so we set that up with him via WhatsApp while we had breakfast.

We then walked down the street to the local MTN office to buy sim cards, which ended up being a lengthy procedure as it was a multi stage process. Fortunately we weren't in the queue for tech support as by the time we left the office that line extended out the door and into the car park. The lady that set up our sims was very nice, and she told us that her sister in law worked for the Ghanaian embassy in Australia and was arriving in Accra on Saturday.

The driver took us by Makola market where we were stuck in a traffic jam for a while, but it was quite interesting as we were able to observe the locals going about their purchases in a hectic environment while we were isolated in an air conditioned car with heavily tinted windows that no-one could see inside. The traffic did not improve so we weren't able to visit the market view point as planned, we think the normal chaos was compounded by the road closures for the swearing in of the president the next day, the Constitution Day public holiday. 

Next we were taken to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, the mausoleum of Ghana's first president where Nkrumah made the declaration of Ghana's independence. This was a popular site, with what appeared to be mostly locals visiting, Nkrumah appears to be very highly regarded by the people of Ghana. 

We then went to visit Osu Castle which has a a very chequered history. We almost didn't get there, as the roads on the way were in the process of being closed for Constitution Day, and the castle was swarmed by gun toting soldiers. The castle was originally a fort built by the Danish, but most significantly it was the place of no return for more than 100,000 slaves who were locked up here before being sent away, primarily for the Caribbean. Over the years the castle has been owned by Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Britain and finally Ghana. Over the years the place has also been used as a presidential residence, so we were able to visit the (quite bare) room where Queen Elizabeth had stayed in 1961.  

It was terribly hot and humid, so by that time we'd had enough and were happy to get back to the hotel. We arranged with the driver to take us to the Lomé border in a couple of days, finishing with yet another early night (we must be getting old!).